Heart: A DS9 Story
by Mcfergeson
Summary: Odo realizes that he has a lot to learn when dealing with Kira, especially in matters of the heart.


_A/N: I originally wrote this story to enter it in a contest that was being held on a Star Trek B-Board. The rules of the contest was that it must be a Star Trek story that involved heart, and that it must be no more than 2000 words. I didn't win. I think I only got about two votes for the story (thanks to whomever voted!), but I'm a life-long Trekkie, and I had a lot of fun writing about the Deep Space Nine crew. _

_My favorite character from that show is Odo, and when he fell in love with Kira, I thought it sort of came out of left field. So, with this story, I tried to create the 'spark' which changed their relationship from that of friends to lovers. This story takes place shortly before the fourth season, which introduced Worf to the spacestation. And, since I'm no longer constricted to having the story under 2000 words, I've taken the liberty of re-inserting scenes that I originally had to remove._

_I hope you like it. _

**Heart - A DS9 Story**

It was the mid-afternoon, just after the lunchtime crowds, when Quark's was usually quiet and empty. The Dabo girls looked bored as they stood by the silent game tables, and even Morn was fast asleep in his regular seat. Quark stood behind the counter, shaking his head and muttering to himself in a distraught manner, no doubt dismayed at the money that he was losing during this slow period.

Yet this was the time that Odo enjoyed the most, because there were no interruptions, or distracting noise. He could sit in peace and go over his files at his leisure--all while keeping an eye on Quark. Today Odo was looking over the manifest of the Chakra Monet, an independent freighter which was presently docked at Deep Space Nine. Odo recently received Intel reports that the Orion Syndicate was taking advantage of the growing tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire by muscling in on the traders in the region and smuggling contraband. However, everything on the manifest of the Chakra Monet looked normal--at least on the surface. Yet Chief O'Brien reported that the station sensors indicated that the Chakra Monet contained far more mass than what was on the manifest.

'Perhaps I should pay a visit to the captain,' Odo thought, 'and see what--'

His ruminations were interrupted when he glanced up and saw Major Kira standing by his table. Kira gave him a sheepish smile as she stood with her hands behind her back.

"Hello, Odo," she said awkwardly.

"Major," he said by way of greeting. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Kira's smile faded slightly when she saw the data pad in Odo's hand. "Oh, no, I-I'm disturbing you. That's ok, I'll talk to you some other time."

"Nonsense," Odo said, as he gestured at the empty seat across from him. "You know I always have time for you. What's the problem?"

"It's not really a problem, per se," Kira said, as she took a seat across from him. She then hesitated, as if not sure of what to say. "Well, I guess it is a problem…for me. You see, Dax has invited me to try out a new holodeck program."

"A new combat training program?" Odo asked.

"No, see…that's just it," Kira said. "It's a Trill spa program. It's a replication of a health spa on Trill. And you just lay around and let them pamper you." Kira shook her head in disbelief. "It seems so…silly! I was really surprised Dax asked me to go along with this."

"What was your answer to Dax?"

"I turned her down," Kira said, looking uneasy. "But I'm not sure if I made the right choice. I guess I'm having second thoughts."

"Well, you were right to say no," Odo told her. "Because the whole affair certainly sounds very frivolous, and it would be very wrong for you to partake in a program like that."

Kira abruptly sat back as if she had been slapped. "Y-You don't think it's right for me to do something like that?"

"Of course not, Major. You're an officer in the Bajoran military, and the second in command of this space station," Odo said. "You are not a frilly, or frivolous, person by any means. In fact, I'm surprised that you even bothered to waste your valuable time on this matter."

For a split second, Kira sat there with a pained expression on her face. Then she stood up and firmly said: "You're right, Odo. This was a waste of time. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

Odo stared after Kira as she walked briskly out of the bar. There was something wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Quark came over to him, shaking his head in disgust. "What exactly is your problem, Odo?"

"Pardon me?"

"Major Kira just wanted to talk with you, and you brushed her off!"

"Were you listening in on our conversation?" Odo demanded.

"I didn't have to, I could tell Kira was offended just by her body language," Quark told him. "She just wanted to have a heart to heart with you, that's all."

Odo was offended that the Ferengi would even presume to comment on his friendship with Major Kira. "You know full well I don't have a heart, Quark. So please mind your own business."

"You got that right, my friend," he said, shaking his head once more. "You have no heart, nor a soul; in fact, I know some Klingon warriors who are more kind-hearted and gentle than you'll ever be!"

When Odo left the bar, he dismissed Quark's criticism as no more than what the humans called sour grapes; Kira and Dax would have had to have used one of Quark's holodecks, and when Odo talked her out of it, Quark just lost a customer. Yet the image of Kira's face--her hurt expression--remained in his mind no matter how hard Odo tried to focus on his work. Even later, while he boarded the Chakra Monet with a security team to investigate the anomaly in the sensors, Odo couldn't shake the feeling that he did something drastically wrong with Kira.

"Sir!" a member of his team, a young female Bajoran deputy by the name of Élan Li, called. "You should take a look at this."

Odo went over to where Élan stood and found that she and the other deputies had removed a section of the ship's bulkhead, revealing several large cargo cases in a hidden slot.

"Cardassian phaser rifles," Élan said grimly, as she held up a tri-corder for Odo to see. The tri-corder screen confirmed the presence of at least a hundred rifles, all fully charged up, in the cases. "The bulkhead plating shielded them from any scans."

When Odo shot an accusing look at Tamil Keck, the captain of the Chakra Monet, the Bolian promptly broke down into tears.

"We're innocent!" he cried. "Please, you must believe us!"

"Of course you are," Odo said sarcastically. "These rifles just happened to sneak aboard all by themselves, didn't they?"

"No, you don't understand," the captain protested. "We had no choice but to smuggle these weapons. The Orion Syndicate is holding our families hostage! If we don't do what they say, our spouses and children will be killed!"

In his career as a constable, Odo had confronted many people with having committed a crime. And by doing so, he had become something of an expert in who was lying and who wasn't. So Keck's sincerity was hard to deny. In fact, Odo was so taken aback by the man's sincere grief that he had no choice but to believe him. He immediately tapped the com-badge on his chest and said, "Odo to Captain Sisko?"

Sisko replied instantly. "Yes, Constable."

"Captain, we have a problem…."

Sisko called for an emergency meeting of all department heads in Ops. According to Tamil Keck, the loved ones of the crew of the Chakra Monet were being held by members of the Orion Syndicate on the largest moon of the planet Jorilo. While they waited for Dax to locate the Jorilo system at her science console, Odo stole a look at Kira. He couldn't help but notice that she had barely glanced at him all throughout the meeting.

'She's still bothered by the outcome of our conversation,' Odo realized. He wished he could apologize, but now was not the time.

Once Dax located the star system, Sisko stood up and said, "Chief, warm up the Defiant, we're going on a trip to Jorilo."

"One question, Ben," Dax said, as she gazed at Odo. "What about the crew of the Chakra Monet?"

"They're not going anywhere until you return from Jorilo," he assured her.

"But will you still charge them for smuggling weapons?" Dax asked.

"No," Odo replied. "As far as this incident is concerned, they are just as much the victims of the Orion Syndicate as anyone else. Besides, they have no record of any prior crimes."

"Good call, Constable," Sisko agreed. "We'll see you soon."

Odo nodded, as Sisko and the others filed out of Ops, on their way to the Defiant. Kira held back from the group and gave Odo a broad smile. Odo was actually relieved to see that sign of affection from Kira.

"Good hunting, Major," he said.

"Thanks," she replied. "See you when we get back."

Although he was pleased that Kira apparently let bygones be bygones, Odo was still bothered by their earlier conversation. Specifically, the image of Kira's hurt expression still haunted him, since he was the one who had caused her pain.

He brooded about it in his office until he received a call from Deputy Élan. "Sir, there's a disturbance in the Promenade."

"I'll be right there," Odo said. He left his office and made his way to the main commerce area of Deep Space Nine.

He found Deputy Élan on the catwalk, where she pointed out a woman to Odo on the Promenade level below them. The woman was a Deltan, with the distinctive bald head of her species. Scantily clad, she was pressed up against an information panel, as if hiding behind it.

"There's a man in pursuit of her," Élan anxiously said. "There he is!"

The man, who was also a Deltan, snuck around the sign and jumped in front of the woman with his hands held out. The woman let out a wild squeal of delight as the man scooped her up in his arms.

"It's all right, Deputy," Odo said, as he watched the Deltan couple share a passionate kiss. "They're just a pair of vacationers having some fun."

Élan looked embarrassed. "Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to get so overexcited over nothing!"

"Think nothing of it, Li," he assured her. "Your enthusiasm for your work is what makes you such a fine deputy. Resume your patrol."

Élan flashed him a broad grin. "Yes sir. Thank you, sir!"

Odo watched as the Deltan couple broke their embrace. The woman backed away from the man with a mischievous smile on her face, and then she ran off down the Promenade with another wild squeal. The man waited for a moment, giving her a head start, before resuming the chase once more.

'These solids are willing to perform whatever bizarre acts just to have fun on their leisure time,' Odo thought with a shake of his head. And that was when the realization struck him. 'But that's the whole point of having leisure time, isn't it? Just to have fun.'

Several hours later, the Defiant returned to the station in triumph. Odo and a team of deputies were there to arrest the Orion Syndicate prisoners that the Defiant crew had captured. Odo was also content to see the heart-felt reunions between the Chakra Monet crew and their loved ones. When he spotted Major Kira walking by herself down the Promenade, Odo ordered his team of deputies to take the prisoners to the brig.

Odo caught up with Kira on the catwalk above the Promenade, which was just as well, because the area offered them some much-needed privacy. "Major," he called.

She paused and smiled at him. "It went very well, Odo. The Orion pirates never even knew what hit them."

"I'm pleased to hear that," Odo said. "But that was not what I wanted to speak to you about. I wanted to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Kira asked. "For what?"

"For my behavior during our earlier conversation. When you asked me about Dax's holodeck program," Odo said. "You were trying to have a heart to heart with me, and I'm afraid I'm not very good at that sort of thing because…well, I don't have a heart to begin with. But after thinking about it, perhaps you should go with Dax after all."

"But I thought we both agreed that Dax's program was very silly," Kira said.

"It _is_ very silly, and frivolous, and you deserve it," Odo told her. "You should do whatever pleases you when you're off-duty, even if it is doing something that's seemingly nonsensical. That's what your leisure time is for."

Kira, looking touched, nodded. "Thanks, Odo. I think I'll take up Dax on her offer. But I really disagree with the idea of you not having a heart. Technically, you would have been within your rights to arrest the Chakra Monet crew. Yet you didn't, and by showing them that mercy, you've proved that you indeed have a heart--one of the biggest on this station, in my opinion."

She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "And because you care so much for me, I also consider myself very lucky to have you as a close friend. Goodnight, Odo."

"Goodnight, Major." As he watched Kira walk off to her quarters, Odo touched the spot on his face where she had kissed him. Oddly, it tingled in a good way. As he left to see to the interrogation of the Orion pirates, Odo reveled in the warm feeling that he felt within his very being.

**The End**


End file.
